Mutt Basic

[Peter Garrett]

On Tue, 04 Sep 2007 02:12:41 -0500
Leonard Chatagnier <lenc5570 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> Peter Garrett wrote:
[snips]
> > 	You can even do this in one line something like
> > 	
> > mutt -f imaps://arthur.dent:t0w3Lm1ss!ng@mail.beeblebrox.com/INBOX
> >                     ^^^^      ^^^^
> >                    username:password 
> >                    
> >         The -f tells mutt it is looking for a file. It doesn't care if 
> >         the file is local or not. this way is a bit clumsy, and we 
> >         probably want to use TLS or something similar rather than a 
> >         plain text login. ~/.muttrc allows us to do this.
> >   
> Ok, tried this with:
> mutt -f 
> imaps://lenc5570@sbcglobal.net:mypasswd@pop.sbcglobal.yahoo.com/INBOX
> output:Could not connect to pop.sbcglobal.yahoo.com (Interrupted system 
> call).
> and with:
>   mutt -f 
> maps://lenc5570@sbcglobal.net:mypasswd@sbcglobal.yahoo.com/INBOX to get 
> rid of pop.
> output:Could not find the host "sbcglobal.yahoo.com"
> Also tried with imap ipo pop with this output:
> Could not find the host "imap.sbcglobal.yahoo.com"
> Either yahoo was no imap server or I'm missing something.
> Also didn't work with mail ipo imap, imaps, or pop.
> Perhaps you will clarify or am I missing some prerequisite.
> 
I have no idea whether Yahoo support imap, so I don't think I can help
there. It is possible to view pop3 with a line like the ones above - for
instance here

mutt -f pop://peter.garrett:mypass@mail.optusnet.com.au

downloads the headers and displays them fine.
Perhaps you are prepending "pop" to the server name - pop is a protocol, so
it goes at the beginning:

pop://
imap://
imaps://

and so on. On the other hand, I notice that your server name specifies
pop, so perhaps this server just doesn't understand imap.

[ snips ]
> >      	I know this ruins the mystique, but actually it is rather 
> >      	simple. ;-) I get the impression a lot of people who write 
> >      	about this stuff are deliberately complicating it.
> >      	
> Not simple for me. Welcome your tutorial.  Looking forward to more.

Heh - I guess it's easy to say something is simple *after* getting it to
work ;-)  What I meant was that much of the "explanation" found on the web
about mail unintentionally makes this stuff more difficult than it
actually is, by wrapping it in technical language.
> 
> >      	Hope this is some use conceptually. It may not be technically 
> >      	pure but I think it helps to explain things ...
> >      	
> > 
> Thanks very much, Peter, for this. Best explanation of how mail and mutt 
> works, I've seen. I for one want to see your more-or-less generic config 
> on the model you are currently using. You are appreciated.
> 
OK - well I have attached two files - muttrc-basic   and msmtprc-basic .
They are more or less what I am currently using ( I've added a few bits
since I started, but these work )

I found that having the  my_hdr From ...worked where  set *envelope*
etc. did not - commented out in the muttrc 

As you will see, the syntax of msmtprc is very straightforward . 

Substitute as relevant - these are my optus settings with my user name.
"xxxxxx" is probably not a good password choice *grin* .

Obviously you use them as ~/.muttrc  and ~/.msmtprc respectively .
You don't really need to include the password line - mutt prompts for one
on startup as it connects. In fact having the password in the muttrc could
be a security issue. 

Important point: both .muttrc and .msmtprc have permissions of 600 
(readable and writable only for your user)

Peter
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